Sunday, 1 May 2016

Obama Admin Denies Saying “No Boots On The Ground”

What
does a government do when it’s caught in a flagrant lie? If you are
the U.S. government, you simply tell another lie — and laugh at
anyone who tries to call out your hypocrisy.

Setting
aside his oft-parroted no-boots-on-the-ground imperative,
President Obama announcedMonday
the U.S. would be quintupling the number of special forces troops
deployed to Syria to fight Daesh (the so-called Islamic State). In
fact, the announcement was made later on the same day Obama claimed
to have “ruled out” the deployment of ground troops.

Though
this reneging on stated foreign policy has become somewhat par for
the course, State Department spokesman John Kirby not only missed the
hypocritical move, he flatly and bafflingly denied the Obama
administration’s repeated claim there would be “no boots on the
ground.”

In
fact, instead of taking responsibility for initiating military
maneuvers the public might find displeasing, the Obama administration
has developed an apparent affinity for nitpicking semantics.

In
a press conference, this farcical denial of reality reached
stupefying proportions when Kirby wasasked by
an Associated
Press reporter
about this stark reversal of policy. All emphasis has been added to
highlight the absurdities.

“I’m
just curious if this is, like, part of some kind of devious grand
strategy to say one thing and then do the complete opposite of it,”
the reporter queried.

“I
just — I don’t see it that way,” Kirby responded. “There
was never this ‘no boots on the ground.’ I don’t know where
this keeps coming from.”

Pressing
the point, the reporter expounded, “For months and months and
months, the mantra — from the President and … everyone else in
the Administration — has been ‘no boots on the ground,’ and now
—”

“That
is not true,” Kirby
interrupted.

“What?!” the
reporter exclaimed — apparently as baffled as the rest of the
press, heard murmuring in similar disbelief around the room.

“It’s
just not true,” Kirby persisted, appearing almost smug, leaning on
the podium. “It’s just not true.”

Of
course, it is true
— and Kirby’s semantic gymnastics to justify such a brazen lie
added an Orwellian twist to the already Kafkaesque press conference.
And that truth is written in black and white — even on the White
House website, at least as far back as August 2013, when
Obama stated:

[I]n no
event are we considering any
kind of military action that would involve boots
on the ground;
that would involve a long-term campaign.

Though
after the last statement, Obama’s characterization of ‘no boots
on the ground’ began a subtle shift in language — evidencing
mission creep — he sustained the narrative troops would not be
deployed on the ground.

At
the White House on February 11, 2015, reportedUSA
Today, Obama
remarked:

The
resolution we’ve submitted today does
not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq
or Syria.

It’s
arguable the United States populace could handle an honest statement
outlining policy many may not agree with — such
as the deployment of boots on the ground —
if the plan were forthrightly presented.

But
for Obama and other officials to repeatedly claim as much, and to
then have the State Department act as if the people, themselves, have
collectively lost their minds when pointing out the mendacious gaffe,
is downright laughable — if not profoundly insulting.

It
has become clear the United States mission to fight Daesh — with
the secondary goal to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — will
involve boots on the ground. But it’s questionable whether the
Obama administration with ever manage to admit to as much.

Obama Goes From “No Boots” to Mission Creep in Syria - Former Pentagon Official